Donald Trump has been pictured arriving back at the White House after “bullying” President Zelensky during a blistering meeting.
It was all waves and smiles from Elon Musk as he carried his son, who is named “X”, on his shoulders across the South Lawn, accompanied by his mother Maye Musk. The Commander-in-Chief looked less pleased, scowling at the reporters gathered outside as he disembarked Marine One with his father-in-law, Victor Knaves, looking dishevelled after last week’s tense exchange in the Oval Office with the Ukrainian leader.
After the meeting, in which the heroic Ukrainian statesman was bullied by Trump and his crony JD Vance, Musk and Trump jetted off to Florida for a brief break from leading the country. On Friday, Trump and Zelensky sat down for a disastrous meeting, which saw neither side reach consensus on matters of war and commerce, leading embattled Zelensky to suddenly get up and leave in an armoured vehicle.
Trump previously chided Zelensky with these words: “You’ve got to be more thankful, because, let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us, you don’t have any cards.” Later, the 78-year-old addressed reporters by stating: “I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for peace.”
In response, Zelensky turned to social media to express his appreciation for American support, writing: “Thank you America, thank you for your support, thank you for this visit,” he posted. “Thank you @POTUS, Congress, and the American people. Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we are working exactly for that.”
Talks between the two leaders unexpectedly broke down as the Ukrainian president was verbally bullied by both the US president and his sidekick JD Vance in front of the world’s press. Trump spewed out a flurry of belligerent remarks towards Zelensky as any attempts at peace talks quickly disintegrated.
A planned joint press conference was cancelled as Trump, whose actions have been roundly condemned, stunned everybody in the room and claimed Zelensky was “not ready for peace”. Among the multitude of rants that the 78-year-old made were comments about Hunter Biden’s ‘laptop from hell’, ‘javelins’ and Trump being a formidable ‘tough guy’.
Zelensky spoke with Trump about Vladimir Putin breaking a previous ceasefire and not exchanging prisoners like planned. In an unusual, but not uncommon for Trump tactic, the US President spoke about himself in the third person.
Trump responds: “That was with Obama, who gave you sheets and I gave you javelins. Yes. I gave you the javelins to take out all those tanks. Obama gave you sheets. In fact, the statement is Obama gave sheets and Trump gave javelins.”
Trump seemed to enjoy flexing his power by effectively claiming to be the strongest person in the world. “You want me to be tough? I can be tougher than any human being you’ve ever seen, I’d be so tough, but you’re never going to get a deal that way, so that’s the way it goes,” he threatened.
He also added: “You’re in no position to dictate what we’re gonna feel, we’re going to feel very good. We’re going to feel very good and very strong.”
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